How will it work?
What can you expect if you decide you want to live in the parallel village?
The village will be divided into what we call plaza neighbourhoods, about 200 homes and 50 workplaces in a neighbourhood that is defined by its central plaza. On the plaza will be about 25 of the workplaces... shops, cafés, services and offices. On each plaza the Village Organising Company (VOC) also funds an Artist Guild Hall in order to secure a level of cultural enrichment. The artists determine what resources they need, working within a seven figure budget provided by the VOC.
If you move into the village, you move into a particular plaza neighbourhood and each one will be different. There will be a noise overlay, with some plazas pumping and loud, while others will be peaceful and quiet. You may choose to have a workplace on the plaza, a workplace on a primary street (a ground-floor office that would have less foot traffic than on the plaza), or you may work in the industrial park or in someone else's workplace. Some people will bring in "money importing" jobs meaning they sell local to global, while other people will open local businesses that thrive by providing goods or services to local people. Few people, if any, will commute away from the village on a daily basis, although the location should be within two hours of a major airport for people who must travel from time to time.
The VOC will function as the developer and will coordinate the construction of the homes and workplaces, which will for the most part be attached housing. However, unlike row houses, the housing will more likely be wide and less deep, to make them sunnier and more comfortable. Each plaza neighbourhood will determine the general architectural look and feel for their neighbourhood and within those parameters different size homes will be built. As much as possible, the VOC shall seek to encourage the first villagers to implant their character on their homes and workplaces, for from this comes the authenticity and character that make a place wonderful. Housing prices will be based on a square metre formula, adjusted by amenities and detail.
The village will provide for affordable housing to target groups of people who over the long term would not be able to financially compete for housing in the village. Youth (under 25), elders (over 65), artists in the guild halls, essential workers such as teachers or public servants are examples of candidates for what is called parallel market housing. Qualified buyers purchase their home at an affordable, subsidised price. When they sell it, it must be to qualified buyers within the target group. In this way, a parallel market is established where supply and demand is based on the purchasing power of that group, which otherwise may be unable to compete for village homes. In this way gentrification is inhibited without creating bureaucratically heavy systems for affordable housing.
There will be no cars permitted within the village walls, but this does not mean you have to give up your car... only that you won't need it. Outside the village gate, you may buy or lease a carpark, just as people do who live in apartments in cities. Most people will probably find that it is cheaper and easier to rent a car from the motorpool when they want to go somewhere. The village will have NEV's (neighbourhood electric vehicles) which are small electric vehicles, similar to golf carts to enable carrying suitcases, shopping bags or sports equipment from the motorpool to home. Additionally, the village will operate a goods delivery service from the freight depot (next to the motorpool) and one may expect entrepreneurs will offer slow-speed taxi services for those who prefer not to walk... again using NEV's.
If you have school-aged children, the village becomes the campus, with classrooms on the plazas and primary pedestrian streets. Classrooms are used about 10% of the time for study. After school they become available as community use rooms, with special pocket walls, so the educational work need not be taken down. Instead of school sports fields, the greenbelt will have community sports fields that are reserved for school use during school hours. The equestrian field will enable classes in riding, the gardens will allow classes in agriculture. The many businesses operating in the village will provide role models for young children and apprenticeship opportunities for high school aged students. The Guild Halls will provide exposure to professional members of the creative class... artists, musicians, actors, scientists, inventors, designers, film-makers and so on.
Considerable attention was given to balancing public and private life. In focus groups people from small towns said the thing they disliked most was the lack of privacy. We found the Moors solved this one best... high garden walls. The plazas are the place where public life occurs... benches for old people to sit, café tables where one may sit all day and read the papers or play chess without having to buy more coffee. Other places will be private, including home design, less active streets, and of course parts of the greenbelt with gardens, fields of flowers and walking forests.
The local economy is an essential part of the success in the village, thus as we proceed in developing a relationship with you, at one point we will develop a list of occupations. Some professions and businesses require a critical mass, a minimum number of persons in the village. For example, a watchmaker told us when he was in training, they told him for every watchmaker, one needs 5,000 people. Thus, if we find ten watchmakers want to move into the village, we might find not all will succeed. Should this happen, our plan at present is to introduce the applicants to each other, and suggest they work it out so there are no surprises. We will not dictate how many watchmakers there will be, but we will seek to inform the watchmakers before anyone makes a final commitment.
In the initial stages of developing this village, the Village Organising Company will be seeking investment funds to make the village happen. However, it is not a speculative venture. Because we need to know who will be living in the village in order to involve them in designing its look and feel, and because the local economy needs all of them to move in at the same time, not staged over years or even decades, funding of the construction of the village will be similar to you buying land and building your own home using conventional financing. Similar, but not the same, because we will be implementing a rapid build programme in which the construction of approximately 4,000 homes - each with its own character and design elements - will be accomplished in short order. We are setting a target of 12 months (although this is not a promise at this time). We intend to use very different construction systems than the bespoke process used by most builders in New Zealand today. This means that you will need to provide evidence that you can finance and/or pay for your home. We intend to seek out preferred lenders rather than rely solely on conventional bank financing, which may enable securing wholesale rates, considering the number of mortgages to be created.
If you want to learn more, may we recommend you buy a copy of the book, How to Build a Village. which you can purchase softbound over the internet or you may purchase a limited edition hardbound copy for NZ$71 (domestic NZ postage included) by sending an email to info (at) villageforum (dot) com.
